With Average Price Under $1,000, BCS National Championship Tickets Are Cheapest Major Championship Game In Five Years

The day after Christmas is a bargain hunter’s dream. This year is no different with major retailers rolling out discounts that are often up to 50% off. If you have the patience to wait for your Christmas gifts, there’s a lot of money to save. When it comes to bowl ticket prices, patience has also paid off, especially when it comes BCS National Championship tickets. For the first time since we’ve been tracking the market, the average price for a pair of tickets to the BCS title game is under $1,000. With a current average price of $938, this year’s game is 57% below the final price for last year’s game between Alabama and Notre Dame and 88% below the last National Championship game that Auburn participated in, in 2010. It’s also the least expensive single elimination game over the last five years across the major sports--excluding Major League Soccer and College Men’s basketball, where the most expensive tickets are for the semifinal, not the final game.

Since we’ve been tracking the ticket market, there have been thirteen games where the outcome determined a league champion. That list includes one game in Major League Baseball and the NHL, two in the NBA finals, as well as four BCS Title games and four Super Bowls.

The games are listed below, from most to least expensive:

Event

Date

Teams

Venue

Average

BCS Champ

1/10/2011

Auburn vs Oregon

Univ Pheonix

$5,086.00

Super Bowl

2/5/2012

Patriots vs Giants

Lucas Oil

$4,214.00

Super Bowl

2/6/2011

Packers vs Steelers

AT&T

$3,621.00

Super Bowl

2/3/2013

49ers vs Ravens

Superdome

$3,152.00

Super Bowl

2/7/2010

Saints vs Colts

SunLife

$2,679.00

BCS Champ

1/9/2012

Alabama vs LSU

Superdome

$2,128.00

BCS Champ

1/7/2013

Alabama vs ND

SunLife

$2,047.00

NBA Finals

6/17/2010

Lakers vs Celtics

Staples

$1,811.00

Stanley Cup

6/13/2011

Bruins vs Canucks

TD Garden

$1,499.00

NBA Finals

6/20/2013

Heat vs Spurs

American Airlines

$1,346.00

World Series

10/28/2011

Cardinals vs Rangers

Busch

$948.00

BCS Champ

1/6/2014

FSU vs Auburn

Rose Bowl

$938.00

Despite already being the cheapest winner-take-all championship game over the last four years, it’s likely that prices for this years BCS title game will continue to fall. Currently, there are over 5,000 tickets available with 10 days left until kick-off. Over the last two years, prices for BCS National Championship tickets between Christmas day and the title game have declined 17%. Currently, the get-in price of $419 is significantly below the cheapest ticket from last year’s game, which was $1,000. It’s also only $92 more expensive than the cheapest Rose Bowl Tickets, which are going for $324. Last year, the cheapest Rose Bowl ticket was $79, which was 92% below the cheapest ticket for BCS title game.

For a full list of 2013-14 Bowl Ticket prices, visit the TiqIQ blog.

I'm the CEO of TiqIQ.com, which is the leading ticket search engine online. I started my professional career as a writer covering New York technology in 1996. I've been fascinated by the ticket market from a young age and remember trying to understand what drove the market i...